Archive for the ‘crafts’ Category

Man, even my jaded soul fucking loves this. YouTube user radialaxis went and arranged Lateralus by Tool for an eight-piece koto group; this video is from their first performance. He also shares with us something I did not know; the song is actually partially based on the Fibonacci sequence, which means it’s related to the Golden Mean, which means that it is mathematically beautiful. See, now even if you don’t like Tool, you can blame liking this song on nature! Here’s a chunk of his very verbose write-up for the song, from the YouTube page:

The first 6 steps and the 15th step (6=1+5) of the Fibonacci sequence for the numbers 0 and 1 feature prominently in the structure of this piece:

(0-1) -1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55-89-144-233-377-61­0-987

This is reflected, for example, in the rhythm of the second section, 9/8-8/8-7/8, 987 being the 15th step of the sequence, as well as in the structure of the 3rd section. While the underlying rhythm of this section is 5/8 (the 6th step of the sequence is 5+8=13), the lead melody progresses back and forth through a series of phrases of length 0 to 13, again the first 6 steps of the sequence plus the root numbers, separated by pauses of length 1 to 5, the 1st 4 steps of the sequence. Together the melody phrases and rests form the image of 2 interlocking spirals. The lyrics of the song at this point also reflect the mathematical structure, the first words being ‘black then white,’ i.e. 0 and 1. The lyrics later in the song make use of extensive spiral imagery.

In my arrangement I tried to incorporate this element of the original composition as much as possible. There are 8 instruments in the group, 6 koto and 2 bass koto. The 6th step in the sequence is 13, which is the number of strings on a koto. The 2 bass kotos together have 34 strings, 34 being the 8th step of the sequence. In the first 9/8-8/8-7/8 section the 8 players are subdivided into 2 groups, one of 5 and one of 3. The groups play the 9/8/7 figure 3 times, with a variation in the 3rd iteration subdividing it into 3=2+1. The 2nd time through the 9-8-7 figure the groups themselves subdivide into smaller groups of 3+2 and 2+1 for 2 iterations before subdividing again in the 3rd iteration (3=2+1 again).

I just must say, thank you sir; this really made my god-damn week. Cheers!

This is far too cool. It turns out that you can go to FAO Schwarz’s site and build yourself a personal Muppet! One of the generic ones, mind you, but still, personal Muppet! As you can see, I designed this one to look like Frankie as a cast member of the puppet version of The Sopranos. Now, if only I could justify spending $90 USD on a special friend…

Okay, so I’ve seen a lot of weird hand-made fan stuff in my time on this here series of tubes we call the interblag. I’ve also seen a lot of sexy cool stuff too. This, however, this… this shit just creeps me right the fuck out. What kind of batshit crazy mentality do you have to have to make a felt re-creation of Bella’s womb, complete with mutant vampire fetus? Look at that thing! Someone put a lot of time and effort into making it. Look how delicately they’ve formed the creepy little fetus. My gods people. If you could put this kind of drive and industry towards something like, say, curing cancer, we’d all live forever.

Ah, you know, sometimes I long for the days of the Cold War, when people didn’t look at you like you were an absolute crazy person for wanting to build an impregnable shelter in your backyard. Now, of course, mine would be to protect against the inevitable outcome of Z-Day, but I suppose it’d be useful in a little nuclear holocaust or something. These images from a scanned brochure of for pre-fabricated fallout shelters, from the Kelsey-Hayes Company, of Detroit, MI circa 1963, really makes me think. About zombies. Enjoy!

Amazing piece of art here. Theo Jansen is a kinetic sculptor who lives in Holland. Using the wind on the beaches of the Netherlands to power his works, he builds these giant skeletons which are able to walk. According to his Wikipedia article, Jansen is “dedicated to creating artificial life through the use of genetic algorithms”. He tests the survival-fitness of his pieces by studying their ability to survive on the beach while moving around within enclosed areas of both wet and dry sand. He then “breeds” his structures together, and grades the “offspring”. By doing this, complex designs emerge on an almost evolutionary scale. So damn cool.